


True Loves Prize

by Silver_Draconis



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 08:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23848216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver_Draconis/pseuds/Silver_Draconis
Summary: Mateo Black had never known who his parents were, and that was fine, he had spent his entire life telling himself that he didn't care about where he came from, but when strange people try to kidnap him from school and he is saved by his teachers stepson he is thrust into a whole new world, the world of gods, monsters, and his parents. Talk about a weird start to summer vacation.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 19
Kudos: 36





	1. A Gift not yet Given

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this Idea floating around in my head for years and am exited to share it with you.

It was a cold morning in Manhattan, the early spring air carrying the last dregs of winter through the bustling streets as people rushed to and fro. The only person not in a rush was a beautiful man with windswept black hair peppered with gray who seemed unaffected by the early morning bustle of the city. In fact, the man seemed to flow in-between the crowds and at one point, disappeared complacently and reappeared down the block though no one paid this fact any mind. In fact, it was like he was invisible as the eyes of the people around him seemed to slide right off his form, though this may have been because of the red and gold wings on his back. As he walked down the noisy streets of New York a new sound pierced the air as a cloth bundle in his arm began to cry and he gently bounced the baby in his arms back to sleep, the cool wind warming as it ruffled the baby's blond locks. Zephyros smiled down at the dosing bundle in his arms, almost wishing to wake him to see his eyes, so much like his father’s, but he would not. Zephyros had a job to do and he would not be distracted by the baby. 

As he fought temptation his destination came into view, a townhouse squished between two others with two lights on either side of the door, but as Zephyros drew closer the lights flickered and became two reed torches that seemed to produce no smoke. Zephyros looked down at the bundle and gave into temptation, gently blowing on the baby's nose and laughing as it scrunched up before his eyes opened to reveal the strange yet beautiful irises of his charge. The right eye was a brown so deep it almost seemed black, well the left eye was the blue of the clearest sky, but both held a single bead of the deepest red right next to the pupil. They were so beautiful, and it left the god tempted to keep the child for he had always loved beautiful things, but his master had given him his orders and he would follow them.

So it was with a heavy heart that the god of the west winds left the baby on the doorstep and rang the bell. He stood there waiting for someone to come but when the door opened there was no one there, only the scent of blossoms and a baby swaddled in red, “ Oh you poor thing, who would leave you out here in the cold?” sadly the baby could offer no answer as he was brought into the house, a warm breeze slipping out through the open door after checking for threats. With his job done the west wind walked away from the orphanage, knowing he would be checking up on him in the years to come.

Mary Black née Sue, despite her unfortunate name, was not a cheerful person. Part of this was because of the jokes about her name but mostly it was because of her profession. Mary owned an orphanage along with her wife, a daughter of Hecate named Rebecca Black, and every time a child showed up on her door she lost a little more respect for the world and the people who thought it okay to just leave a defenseless child on her doorstep without even making sure they were safe. Mary held the child closer as she thought of what could have happened if she had still been asleep when they had rung the doorbell. Once in the kitchen Mary placed the baby in the playpen as she got to work on breakfast. 

The feeling of hands over her eyes as she slid the last pancakes onto a plate helped to sooth her mind. Even if their parents didn’t care, she knew that they would provide for the child until they found the perfect family for them. As she slid away from the hands covering her eyes she saw the crooked smile of her wife and the question in her green eyes before she dipped her into a chaste kiss in response to the stifled giggling coming from the doorway and laughed at the sounds of disgust that came from the dramatic five year old named Ben as he yelled about his poor innocent eyes, he was spending far to much time around Rebecca's sister Lou Ellen.

The whining five year old seems to signal the rest of the house that it was safe as children and teens began to flood the kitchen. Mary started counting in her head and got to thirty-four when she heard Pearl’s gasp as she noticed the newcomer in the playpen, “ Ms. Mary, Ms. Mary! Do we have a new baby, can I play with him, can I feed him?” The questions continued for another ten seconds before the new baby started crying and the microwave beeped signaling that the formula was done. After a quick skin tests the baby was happily suckling away at the bottle as he looked at everyone with his duel colored eyes and they all looked back, some in wonder like Pearl and Ben; some in amusement like Layla and Karl, the two thirteen year old's; and others just rolled their eyes at the younger kids antics, mostly just Sarah who would be off to college after summer. 

It was Sarah who noticed the letter sticking out of the baby's blanket as it seemed to flicker in a non existent wind as she got up and grabbed it before handing it off to Rebecca. Now the entire table of six kids and two adults were quite as curiosity about what the letter could say filled them all. When Rebecca unfolded the letter the first thing she saw was a golden bow at the top of the page and golden hearts surrounding the edges of the letter filling her heart with dread, It was obvious who this letter was from but she read on, pulling the letter away when Leyla tried to read it over her shoulder.

_“Dear Madams Black, I place this child in your care because his parents can not keep him safe at this time, his protection is of the utmost importance to me and for your help you will be handsomely rewarded, His name is Mateo and he can not know of the gods until he is old enough to defend himself. Help him, raise him, and love him until his parents can.”_

It was a shocking letter indeed, but what was she to do besides love him unconditionally as she would any other child in her care. As Mary began to read the letter Rebecca lifted little Mateo into her arms as she stared into his eyes, taking in every detail she could like the bead of red in his eyes or the M.S.A embroidered into his blanket and she knew life was about to get interesting


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> born from an elder power  
> from which even the gods do cower,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How about we play a game? first person to guess Mateo's parents in the comments gets a special mention in the next chapter

If you asked Mateo Black what the strangest thing to happen to him was, he wouldn't be able to give you an answer because strange things had happened to him most of his life. When he was five he saw a man with wings watching him from across the park and when he pointed him out to his foster mom Rebecca he was kept inside for weeks with no explanation, and when he was seven he was chased from his school by a black dog with glowing red eyes and the body of a grizzly bear. But no matter what happened, no one ever noticed. Sure Rebecca saw the man watching him but she said that he must have imagined the wings, and the teachers who followed him from the school insisted that the dog was no bigger than a mastiff and wouldn't even entertain the idea of glowing eyes.

When he had gotten into Goode it had been like a dream come true, because Goode was in the one part of Manhattan that Mateo had never seen anything weird, and his English teacher was amazing. Mr. Blofis was a middle aged man with salt and pepper hair who made learning fun again. From his interactive lectures to his lessons on sword fighting he picked up from Shakespearean theater he was unlike any other teacher the fourteen year old had ever had. He pushed each student to do their best and even helped Mateo with his dyslexia, writing everything in broad strokes to make them easier to read. But the most interesting thing about his teacher was his son. Percy Jackson was a marine biologist who visited the campus every week to have lunch with his stepdad and could tell the most amazing stories about Greek mythology, though he had a disdain for poetry that bordered on revulsion.

It was because of Percy Jackson that Mateo found an interest in archery. Percy had been telling the class about the goddess Artemis and how she was known as the divine archer when someone had made a comment about how anyone could shoot a stick and he had gotten the most chilling smile on his face as he pulled a bow and rubber tipped arrows out of his bag so that we could “prove ourselves as skilled as the gods” as he put it. He watched as each and every kid pulled back the bow and shot the arrow across the lawn into bushes and trees and everywhere but the target, until Mateo picked up the bow. From the moment he’d let that first arrow fly, he knew what he would be asking for for his birthday, the bowstring seemed to vibrate in his hands as he let loose his first arrow, and his whole world seemed to stop as it struck the heart of the target. Mr. Blofis and his family had made that school year the best of his life, which is why the giant pigeons attacking them had been such a shock.

It was the end of the year party and as usual Rebecca was being a worry wart, she had tried to keep Mateo home that day but he would not miss out on the chocolate cake he knew that Mr. Blofis’ wife would be bringing so instead she had doused him in cologne and insisted on mumbling some prayer in Latin well Mary helped him with his hair. Even with his foster moms fussing he would not be deterred in his excitement, this was the first year that he had gone without anything weird happening and he planned on celebrating with his family and friends.

Well Mr. Blofis and his wife, Ms. Jackson, were talking to all the students and their parents, Percy and his fiancee Annabeth were keeping to themselves. They kept shifting and watching the trees around them as if one of them would spring out of the ground and attack them, which, granted, was something Mateo had seen before. So he would reserve judgement. However, the weirdest thing was the pigeons. Now Mateo had spent his whole life in Manhattan, he had seen pigeons, but never ones this big before, they looked like they could pick a person up off the ground and fly away, not to mention the wicked looking talons that almost seemed to sparkle like bronze.

It was about when Mateo realized that the talons _Where actual Bronze_ that the birds lifted themselves into the air and began to dive bomb the party. The moment the birds had launched into the air Mary began to hear all of the kids into the school but from the sky came large glittering feathers that impaled themselves into the metal doors of the school, clearly marking off that path of retreat. Well everyone else was panicking, Mateo noticed that none of the birds were really attacking anyone, they were herding them around, keeping them in one place. The only people who seemed to be in any real danger were Percy and Annabeth as they seemed to have found swords at some point and were cutting anything that got close in half. The problem was that none of the birds wanted to get close, they seemed content to flock around in the air and launch gleaming projectiles down upon the armed couple Suddenly there was a whistle in the air as one of the birds dive bombed Mateo, its metallic beak gleaming in the sun as it came at him, too fast to be avoided. Mateo saw his life flash before his eyes until suddenly, the bird stopped, in fact, everything stopped as if someone had pressed pause on the whole world. The only thing not paused was a lone figure walking down the street in a simple white frock and black jeans with a quiver of arrows over his shoulder and a beautiful recurve bow made from golden wood and what looked to be the thinnest string Mateo had ever seen on a bow, he had no doubt that the bow itself was just as deadly as the arrows it could fire. Mateo was broken out of his musing when the stranger was suddenly upon him and he realized that it was not a frock that he was wearing, but a pair of pristine white wings that draped over him like a cloak and Mateo wondered if he had any relation to the man with read wings that use to stalk him as a child, until the man spoke and all other thoughts left Mateo’s head st the sound of his otherworldly voice.

“It is good to see you again Mateo, it has been many years since our last meeting.” Mateo could only stare as his words filled him, left him shaken and confused as the stranger continued to speak, “ I'm afraid that this must be quick, well love can make a moment feel like forever there is still much we must discuss and little time before the Stymphalian Birds escape my spell, hey do not feel love like you or I.” that got Mateo's attention and with a tremendous effort he shook himself from his stupor and put his guards up, unable to tell if this man who could _apparently freeze time_ was a friend or foe, but the man only laughed at him. “I am sorry to have missed so many birthdays, but I hope you will enjoy this gift. The Stymphalian Birds were only defeated when Hercules shot them from the sky and archery has never been one of Percy Jackson’s talents,” he then unloaded the bow and quiver into Mateo’s arms, as if it was normal for winged beauties to give a fourteen year old weapons, Mateo didn’t even know his name for peats sake!

Almost like he could see the question in his eyes the man shook his head and began to walk away, “ You will understand everything soon enough, seek out Nico di Angelo when you get to Camp Half-blood, he will teach you what you need to know. Be safe, my Cadeau.” Now Mateo was wondering why the winged man would call him his gift in french, and where he himself had learned french, but before he could ask anything the man was gone and the bird fell to the ground with a golden arrow sticking out of its chest before it exploded into a pile of sulfur.

The world was back in motion and Mateo was a little stressed, the crazy birds now seemed to think he was a target, he had a bow and quiver from some sort of winged model, and his teacher's stepson was yelling orders at him, not that he could hear much with the screaming birds. Suddenly Mateo remembered what the man said about Hercules, and it couldn’t hurt to try. With shaky arms but steady hands he drew an arrow from the quiver and pulled back on the bow. No one was more shocked than Mateo when three of the birds fell from the air before dissolving into yellow powder, and then four more fell from the next arrow. Each arrow bringing down chunks of the flock, each arrow going straight through their hearts until the last few birds flew off, realizing that they had lost.

When it was all said and done everyone had collectively agreed that it was all the food that had attracted the birds and that Percy and Annabeth had found large sticks to beat them back with, but it was decided to end the party there. As everyone began to pack up Rebecca and Mary tried to sequester us away unnoticed but by the time everyone was in the car, Percy and his family had cornered the two foster moms and seemed to get into a heated discussion before getting into their respective cars and followed us to the orphanage. That is how Mateo found himself stuck in the kitchen with his teacher, his teachers wife and son and his foster mothers as he slowly lost all sense of reality well they told him that all the Greek and roman myths were real, that the birds that attacked him were literal monsters from legend, and that he was some sort of demigod, half human half god. He almost wondered if fourteen was too young to develop a drinking problem, probably. 

It all came to a head when Mary brought in the letter and blanket that he was found in all those years ago and explained that the golden bow was the symbol of Eros, the god of love. Mateo got up, walked to his room, and slammed the door shut before pushing a dresser in front of it and as calmly as he could he crawled out the window onto the fire escape and quickly slid to the ground only to turn around and see Annabeth sitting on the wall with the sword he saw earlier at her hip and a raised eyebrow as she signaled him to follow her down to the park.

They sat there in the quiet park for almost an hour before she finally spoke up, “ I get that it can be a shock, but you really shouldn't go off on your own. When I ran away from home I would have died if I hadn’t been found by my friends. This world is dangerous for demigods, especially alone, that's why we band together, to keep each other safe from the monsters in this world, both mythical and mortal. At Camp Half-Blood you can learn how to protect yourself. You can go to college, get a job, have a family without the threat of monsters at every corner.” Mateo sighed as she went on to explain about Camp Half-blood and Camp Jupiter and the claiming by his godly parent, well he wasn't too thrilled at being claimed by some deadbeat he liked the sound of having siblings, he still cried every time someone was adopted or when they moved out of the house.

When they arrived back at the home it was to cookies coming out of the oven and the laughter of children as Percy told them about the new dolphins at the reserve and he realized he needed one question answered before he went along with any of this, one thing that was nagging at the back of his skull from the strange winged man, “Do any of you guys know Nico di Angelo?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave a comment and kudos if you enjoy this story, and if you have any suggestions or questions don't be afraid to ask.


	3. A Warning or a Threat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the gift of a god no longer hidden away,  
> shall come to a camp where he cannot stay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long wait, school has been killer. Hope you all enjoy.

Mateo was having a bit of a crisis, but could you blame him? He had learned that one of his parents was a god, that all of the weird things he had seen all his life were monsters from ancient mythology and that for his own protection he had to spend the summer learning to fight monsters at a summer camp for demigods! Mateo wondered if his father could be Dionysus, because alcohol was starting to seem like a good solution to his problems.

Mateo understood his acceptance of all of this was strange, but he had always known that the world wasn't always like people said it was, he had seen strange things and people all his life and was attacked by giant pigeons only two days ago. No, accepting that there were gods in the world was easy, what he couldn’t accept was that he was a part of it. All his life he had always imagined that his parents were deadbeats, drunks, not immortal gods. He thought that one day, when he was much older, he would go out looking for them. He would find his birth parents and ask them why they left him on the doorsteps of an orphanage with nothing but a fancy red blanket and his name; which now made much more sense. Now he had to accept that he was a demigod and that, according to Percy, monsters would be able to sense that he knew and would be coming after him because he smelled like a five course meal.

Currently he was in his foster mom’s car watching as Long Island passed by him, the trees a sea of verdant green passing him by on the way to the summer camp known as camp half blood. Mateo had heard of it in passing from a bunch of kids at the home, because it turns out Rebecca and Mary Black specifically took in demigod orphans. Most were told before they turned 13 as that is when the gods were required to claim their children but that also left the question of why he was still unclaimed. Percy had told him that the gods had made an oath on the river Styx, a concept he remembered because Percy had said that to break an oath on the river Styx would bring misery and not an hour later one of the other kids had broken one and got hit in the head with a falling tree limb, putting an end to oaths at Goode. So either someone was suffering greatly or his godly parent had found a work around for the oath. The thing that was confusing everyone though, was what Nico di Angelo had to do with it all. Annabeth and Percy had been shocked when Mateo had mentioned him and explained that Nico was the only son of Hades, God of the dead, and was considered one of the most powerful demigods in the world. Mateo could tell there was more to it and he thought that the winged man, who he would bet his new bow was most likely Eros, had something to do with the look they had given each other when he said his name, not that he had mentioned the winged beauty since that was just one too many layers of crazy for even him to deal with.

Mateo was pulled from his thoughts by Rebecca stopping the car in front of a large wooden arch with thick golden letters proclaiming this “Camp Half blood”. As he got out of the car he was forced to do what felt like the tenth double take this week as he saw a large copper reptile with wings that was wrapped around a tree with what could only be a golden sheepskin rug hanging in its branches. As the thing that could only be a _literal dragon_ looked at him he saw what he thought was a moment of recognition before the dragon turned away.  
“That's Peleus, as long as you don't try to grab the golden fleece he’s pretty sweet” Rebecca said with a glance at his slacked jawed look. Shaking his head he turned back to the arch only to freeze again as a centaur galloped towards them with a bow that looked just as deadly as his held loosely in his hand, obviously prepared for their arrival and any threats that could have followed them here.  
“Welcome to Camp Mateo, your foster mother’s IM’d me to discuss your schedule, but it is open to change if you would like to try something new once you are claimed at tonight's bonfire. I am Chiron, your camp counselor.” the large horseman said with a grandfatherly smile that reminded him of Mr.Blofis oddly enough. Mateo wearily shook his head as he recalled all the stories that painted centaurs as rowdy and lecherous party animals, the light playing off the golden bracelet that hung off his wrist, the chain looking like the thorny vines of a rose bush. Suddenly Chiron turned around and began guiding the two demigods down into the camp proper  
“Now, Your mother’s said you were interested in meeting with young mister di Angelo, sadly he is off on a quest collecting some hydra blood and has been forbidden to return by anything other than mortal transportation or divine intervention so he most likely won't be back till Saturday.” Chiron continued to talk as we walked down into a large cluster of small cabins. Each one was as strange and unique as the last, acting as constant fodder for Mateo’s ADHD-addled brain. One had a large mural of the sunset painted on it, and seemed to be shifting and changing every time he looked away. Another one looked like it was covered in clouds and seemed to connect to four other cabins, each one completely different. It was as Mateo was examining a small cabin that looked like a miniature casino that he caught sight of the main cabins, twelve buildings just as unique as the others but obviously much more important than any other as they sat in the very center of the clusters. Now that he really thought about it, it was like each set of small cabins was connected to the larger cabins, all the cabins having to do with plants seemed to expand from a singular large brown cabin with roses on the porch and grass growing from the roof well all the artistic cabins seemed to naturally come from a gaudy golden building that either reflected light into your eyes no matter the angle or was somehow glowing. As Mateo looked closer at the strange design choice Chiron began to speak again  
“I see you have an interest in our cabin structure. When the camp was first founded it only had twelve cabins for the twelve Olympian gods, but on August 18, 2009 Percy Jackson made a deal with the gods that every god would have a cabin here, well it is not feasible to have cabins for gods with no kids it was decided to add altars for every god and Annabeth chase designed modular cabins that could be changed and rearranged as they were needed for each new camper. The basic system is that each alter and cabin is placed behind the Olympian god that they swear loyalty or fealty to, such as Hecate’s and Nemesis’ cabin’s being behind Hades as they are considered underworld gods, this allows for a cohesive sorting system and has led to much less fights breaking out among the campers as they can cool off with people of similar interests. It also lets us separate the cabins that don't get along.

By this point Mateo was starting to become bored. There was only so much talking he could take and he had already been stuck in a car for the last hour and a half, that is until he noticed the girl. She was a young girl no older than twelve, with auburn hair that seemed to flicker as she tended to the hearth at the center of the courtyard. As Mateo approached her he finally realized what had caught his eye, her form seemed to be shifting and twisting the harder he looked, like she was an image layered on top of an image, one second she was a little girl the next she was a young woman with a head wreathed in flames. But beneath it all was something more, something so vast that just trying to see it was giving Mateo a headache. Suddenly a voice pierced through the fog and pain that had begun to fill Mateo’s mind.  
“You know, it's rude to stare, and dangerous too.” the little girl turned around and looked at him with the warmest eyes he had ever seen. They reminded him of winters by the fireplace and long camping trips huddled around a fire, like someone had condensed every good moment into this girl's eyes. Mateo knew that this girl was anything but mortal, and from her smile she knew that he had figured it out as she patted the space next to her.  
“I've been very excited to meet you Mateo, many of us have been waiting for you for some time.” the young goddess, for that was the only thing this woman could be, said as she gazed into the fire.  
“It is rare, even among the gods for someone to notice me, the last Olympian. But no mater where or when we met, your father always did, he spoke to me often and honored me and others in ways that I have not seen since I gave up my seat on Olympus.” Finally the dots connected in his head as Mateo put all the facts together.  
“ It is an honor to meet you lady Hestia, and it is nice to know my father is a smart man, it may make it easier not to shoot him on sight.” as the Idle threat left Mateo’s lips he quietly wondered if he had gone too far, only to hear a laugh like crackling fire fill his ears as Hestia, goddess of the hearth, bent over in laughter.  
“My my, you have your father's humor, it is nice to hear it after so many years. Time has not been kind and though there has been peace, it has been strenuous at best, but I do not doubt that your arrival will spark something here at camp, it is simply a question of what will go up in flames because of it. Follow your heart Mateo, It has guided your family far.” and with those fairly ominous words, the goddess disappeared into cinders, her smile lingering in the air like smoke as Rebecca finally noticed Mateo's absence and marched over to drag him through the rest of the tour. Mateo wondered if all gods gave cryptic warnings after every meeting? He decided he would have to ask Chiron, if he survived the next few hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New game, first person to guess who the cloud cabin belongs to gets to name Percy and Annabeth's son! here's a hint, there is a tree in front of each of the four cabins connected to the cloud cabin. One is dead, one is blossoming, one is green, and one is covered in read and yellow leaves. Good luck!


	4. Too Many Gods in One Week

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the child of three shall find the path,  
> to the heart of the labyrinth forged in wrath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations to AquaEclipse for being the first to guess that the cloud cabin belongs to Aeolus, I'll have to make the next question harder, If you would please comment the name you chose for Percy and Annabeth's son we'll probably meet him within the next few chapters.

Even without seeing all the altars it took them about four more hours to finish the tour of the camp with Chiron guiding the group all around the many areas that made up Camp Half-blood. There were stables full of winged horses that seemed to shy away from Mateo, though that wasn’t too weird since most animals got uncomfortable around him. Rebecca said that Percy usually took care of the riding classes during the summer and could be found around the camp if he needed help. Then the group of three headed down through the training arena, stopping to watch as a large, buff guy in a red tank top with sharp almost elfish features and blond hair plowed through a group of five surrounding him with a sweep of his spear, walking off with a little pouch in hand and running once one of the fighters realized it was his wallet. Then they took a quick stroll through the forests that surrounded the camp, it was explained that the barrier that protected the camp didn’t extend completely into the forest so monsters could come and attack if you went too deep. After that detour the trio headed towards the strawberry fields that Mateo was told was the main source of income for the camp. Chiron explained that the presence of Mr. D, otherwise known as Dionysus, caused most fruit bearing vines to grow faster and well grapes were more affected the camp was not allowed to grow grapes, so they stuck to strawberries. The fields were full of satyrs playing music that caused the vines to wiggle and dance, and demigods picking strawberries off the vines only for new ones to start growing immediately after. Outside of the strawberry fields there was a hold up in the tour as Chiron had to break up a fight between two campers over some sort of pocket watch that glowed and flickered with strange lights before Chiron placed it in the bag hanging off his side. With that problem out of the way Mateo was taken to a large archery range with campers shooting at targets, with varying degrees of success. Once there Chiron stopped and looked at Mateo,  
“Your mothers told me you were interested in archery, would you mind giving me a look at where you are in terms of skill?” Chiron asked with curious eyes, holding out a simple recurve bow towards Mateo. He slowly took the bow, feeling an almost angry buzz from his new bracelet as he quickly judged the balance of the bow before stringing it up. He took an arrow from a nearby quiver before walking over to the shooting area, catching the eyes of the other campers. With much more calm and steady movements than when the giant pigeons attacked Mateo drew the arrow back against the string, feeling the energy held within the wood of the bow and the tautly pulled flax string. He could feel how the wind flowed through the eagle feather fletching and with a quick exhale that seemed to add force as he let go and watched as the arrow flew down the archery field, pulling a cloud of dust behind it into the heart of the target, catching the eye of multiple campers. As the group moved on Mateo heard whispers of Apollo and wondered if it could be true, but from the looks on Chiron and Rebecca's face, neither believed that to be it. Finally the group arrived in the dining pavilion just as a dinner of barbecue, fruit, and vegetables were being served. Whether this was a coincidence or good planning on Chiron's part, Mateo decided to not look a Gift horse in the mouth and went to sit at the Hermes table as he was told that was where all unclaimed campers were required to sit, something about him being the god of travelers and therefore required to house travelers until they had somewhere else to go. Mateo would admit, to himself at least, that he had not paid too much attention to the nitty gritty details, his mind too preoccupied by his second little chat with a god this week and the hope that it would be his last. From all the stories Percy had told his class Mateo knew it was only a matter of time before someone decided to start sending him on quests. Well Hestia had been nice he knew others would not be and he was reaching the limit of what he could deal with, and it was only Wednesday! Mateo hoped that come Saturday he would finally have some actual answers and not just more questions. He had heard something about a grove that could drive you insane with infomercials and deals on used car, there was also something about a labyrinth under Zeus’s Fist, which made about as much sense as the campers complaints about doing dishes in vats of lava, but he would just have to be patient and check things out for himself once his bodyguard was gone.

Mateo loved Rebecca, she had raised him along with Mary for the last fourteen years and helped him grow up into the person he was today, encouraging his love of music and even the new joy of archery. But no matter how much he loved and trusted her, she and Mary had lied to him for fourteen years! She had looked him in the eyes and told him that the winged men and the giant dogs weren’t real, she had let him believe he was going crazy every time he saw goat men at central park or menfolk in the harbor. That was why he was going along with all this, he needed this camp, not just so he could learn about his heritage and how to defend himself, but also to clear his head of all the dark feelings that were swirling around in his head before they became a grudge he could never let go of. He needed to figure out for himself just how he felt about what was happening back home.

Mateo watched as Rebecca talked with her siblings over at the Hecate table, her hands waving around and leaving glittering lines in the air. Each line and circle connecting into what was probably some sort of spell, Mateo wondered if anyone could learn magic like that or if it was a skill only possessed by the children of the goddess of magic. With his mind focused on the thought of magic spells and witchcraft Mateo never noticed how the shadows on the table shifted, for a single moment creating a replica of the spell hanging above his foster mom. Suddenly the torches around the pavilion lit, burning away the shadows before anyone noticed as everyone got up to pour a portion of their food into the hearth, most likely offerings to their parents. Mateo got up and carried his plate of pork roast and steamed green beans towards the fire.  
“Hey, it's me. I wanted to say thank you for the bow, I guess. It kind of turned into a bracelet after I went to sleep, but it's still really pretty. I saw how Percy looked at me when Mary mentioned you had asked them to watch me, you seem to have a bit of a reputation don't you.” Mateo sighed, the idle chatter didn’t feel right, but neither did it feel right to just ask him. In the end he just needed to get it out there and hope the answer didn't drive him to drink, and considering Dionysus was the camp director it might just be a viable option, even if the god wasn’t allowed to drink himself.  
“This is really awkward but I need to know. Eros, are you my father?” as he dumped half the pork and the largest potatoes into the fire Mateo watched as the flames rose higher the smoke seemed to smell like roses but besides that he got no response from the god of love. Mateo spent the rest of dinner contemplating what it meant that the god wasn’t responding, if he was just ignoring him or he was busy somewhere else since Mateo had no idea how gods dealt with prayers. As the night went on and everyone gathered around the campfire/ central hearth Mateo noticed the other campers watching him. Every single person around the campfire kept a close eye on him, waiting for some sign of his claiming. Rebecca said it would be big and flashy, a testament to his divine origin, but as one hour bled into the next the campers slowly began to split off. By two in the morning not even Rebecca remained, she needed to be at the house to help get the younger kids not yet going to Camp to their own summer programs. Finally at three A.M Mateo got up, ready to go to sleep only to realize he had no idea where he was going. Everyone said that he would sleep in his parents cabin but with no idea who his parents were, he had no idea where he was supposed to go. Deciding that the hearth and summer night was warm enough for tonight Mateo turned towards the big house hoping they might have a cot or something he could use only to crash into the wiry chest of a jogger in copper jogging pants and a short sleeve shirt. The strangest thing about him , besides the white wings flapping on the side of his shoes and the impish features that matched multiple campers including the buff fighter from earlier, were the snakes curled up on the side of his Bluetooth.  
“ Hello, Mateo Black correct?” the man spoke quickly, his voice smooth and mesmerizing like he was trying to sell a used car.  
“Um… yes, that is my name” Mateo said warily, praying in his head that this was not who he thought it was, only to get a sinking feeling at the man's smile, like he could tell what he was thinking, maybe he shouldn’t be praying.  
“ Good! Welcome to camp half-blood, here is your orientation package and I also have a package for you from Eros with an apology for his quick exit last time, he also said he’d be here Saturday to say hi. I wouldn't mention that to anyone, might cause a panic or a mutiny especially if di Angelo catches wind. Come along, as the god of travelers you can stay in my cabin until you are claimed, and sorry but I don't know who your parents are so there isn't any point in asking, no one wants to risk pressing Eros for information he doesn’t want to give.” The man kept talking as he walked, obviously trying to keep Mateo from questioning him about why a god was delivering his mail personally. Realizing that the god of trickery would not answer any questions he didn’t want to, Mateo just sighed and looked into the large box containing his orientation pack which consisted of a bright orange shirt that most of the campers seemed to wear, a simple strip of leather that matched the one he had seen Rebecca wearing around her neck except without any beads, a coupon for twenty drachma at the camp store, and a small baggie with four small golden squares that confused him greatly. Before Mateo could open the package from Eros the duo walked through the Hermes cabin, past the sleeping forms to the back where an empty bunk sat already made. As Mateo looked at the small space crammed into a corner of the cabin there was a flash of golden light and when he turned around there was nothing but a bunch of groggy demigods. Mateo sighed for the final time that night as he got changed into his simple grey pajamas and got under the covers, choosing to ignore the package for the night all the while knowing that it was a petty sort of revenge for things that weren't even Eros’ fault but the god of love was the only person who he had to blame for all that was going on right now. Mateo closed his eyes and decided he would deal with everything in the morning, or whenever he decided to wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this question should get a few head scratches, who are the parents of the buff guy we saw in the arena, your hint is that he's a legacy of Ares and Hermes, and its a canon couple. Whoever guesses first will get to cause something embarrassing to happen to Mateo. good luck!


	5. Another Boring Day at Camp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beacon lit by titans fire  
> will show the way to the old one's sire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> good job TheGreatGrim, comment what you want to happen to Mateo and ill work it into the story, lets have some fun at Mateo's expense.

It was a very good thing that Mateo had fourteen years of experience living with roommates, otherwise he might have woken up to no hair and a mustache drawn on his face. As it was he got the joy of fighting the whole Hermes cabin for a sink so he could brush his teeth and do his hair, the inky locks refusing to obey like most mornings. Once out of the bathroom Mateo debated on wearing the camp shirt but decided he wouldn’t be caught dead in the orange monstrosity and settled for blue jeans and a plain black t-shirt, the golden bracelet already on his wrist even though he could have sworn he put it in the lockbox at the foot of his bed. Mateo took another look at the large package Eros had sent him before sighing and taking it with him to breakfast where he once again sat at the Hermes table. Upon his arrival most of the camp quieted, giving him looks of confusion or pity when they realized he was still unclaimed, an extremely unusual situation according to all of the whispering going on around him as he ate eggs and fruit since they were the sweetest things at the dining Pavilion, and when he thought back he couldn’t remember seeing any candy or soda last night besides a can of diet coke at the head table next to a man in an awful tiger print shirt who seemed to be missing this morning. Suddenly a familiar voice pierced through Mateo’s tired musings,  
“Hey Mateo! How was the tour?” Percy Jackson asked me, standing beside the table but not sitting down, he would have to ask about that later.  
“It was fine, I got to meet two more gods than I thought I would and I can't figure out if one of them was threatening me. Have you ever met Hestia?” Percy actually looked shocked at Mateo’s question. In fact, most of the Hermes table was in stunned silence, Mateo was beginning to suspect that meeting so many gods in one week was not a normal occurrence. Percy sighed as he gave Mateo a little smile, as if asking himself, what am i gonna do with you.  
“ The gods don’t make a habit of talking to mortals, but Hestia tries to welcome new campers when she can. What other gods have you seen this week?” Percy asked, that little smile still playing on his lips well Mateo decided if he should answer.  
Hermes came to deliver my orientation package… and a Package from Eros.” It was at that moment Mateo’s sleep-idled mind realized that the table packed with the trickster gods children was probably not the most private place. His fears were confirmed by the complete silence that had spread throughout the table and the looks he was getting, ranging from apprize to pure terror, Eros really did have a reputation here. 

Mateo quickly finished up his food and exited the pavilion, deciding the forest would be his best bet for privacy as long as he kept close to the camp and avoided tree salesmen. Once he was a good ten feet into the forest Mateo scaled a tree, the motions familiar from his times playing at central park, and he finally took a proper look at the package from the god of Desire. It was a red box with golden roses splayed across the side, each petal perfectly rendered and smelling faintly of chocolate. As Mateo ran his hand across the rich vellum that made the flowers he felt a tug under his fingers and watched as one of the petals seemed to shift. Suddenly Mateo had a crazy idea and with a quiet voice less someone else heard what he was about to do.  
“He loves me,” as the words left his mouth he watched as a single petal followed his finger across the box only to fade away a second later, and Mateo groaned as he began the soft mantra  
“He loves me not, He loves me, he loves me not” Mateo continued, with each tug another petal fell until he began to see a picture hidden underneath and finally as he ended his chanting on one final he loves me he could see the golden wings of Eros before a seam appeared down the middle and with careful hands, Mateo opened the box. Inside he found three arrows, the fletching made of pure white feathers and the shafts of sturdy pine, but the part that froze Mateo in fear were the tips. Each arrow was tipped with gold, and that could only mean one thing. Mateo closed the box before slowly opening it again, but the arrows remained, their golden tips glistening in the morning light. Under the arrows was a simple quiver full of arrows (thankfully tipped with bronze), but Mateo could only stare at the three weapons of mass destruction in front of him. He knew the stories, with one of these arrows he could force anyone to fall in love. With a single shot he could end wars and with another start them all over again, he held the one thing that even gods feared so Mateo decided to do what he did best, Mateo took the arrows and slipped them into the quiver before climbing down and pretending that they didn’t even exist.

Back at camp Mateo went to the arena since he seemed to be late for his first class today, It was times like this that Mateo wished he had a phone, but Rebecca never let any of the kids have one, the only person in the house who had one was Mary, and even then it was a basic flip phone, the kind you could use to bludgeon someone and not even crack the casing. Mateo arrived to see a burley woman with the kind of muscle that came from a life of fighting, toss a kid across the arena into a pile of broken training dummies before she turned around and zeroed in on Mateo.  
“You! I expect you in my class by eight on the dot or its fifty push ups, do I make myself clear?” Mateo quickly nodded, a yes ma 'me barely finished before she was focusing back on the group, explaining how the best chance for survival was getting under your opponents defenses, if their off balance then they’re dead. That was how the whole class went, Ms. La Rue, or Clarisse as we were told to call her, would have us lineup and practice fighting stances before trying to knock us over, by the end of it only one person was able to keep standing when she pushed him, but he quickly crumbled when she threw a fake punch at his face and he lost his footing trying to back up.  
“OK, you all did better than I expected, you need to work on your footing and center, all the skill in the world won't do you any good if you end up on the floor after one punch. I'll expect all of you here tomorrow on time” she said that with a side eye to Mateo who flushed in embarrassment but resolved to never be late to any of her classes again.

Mateo’s day was boring after that, he had basket weaving, archery and Greek, three things that almost put Mateo to sleep, although it was nice that the words stayed still on the page and was probably why Rebecca had always insisted on a Greek tutor. The only interesting thing to happen was when his bracelet buzzed at him during archery again. He had assumed that winged horse riding would be just as boring, even with Percy teaching it, that is until he arrived at the stables and saw the one person he most certainly did not want to see. Dirty blond hair that curled like he had just popped out of bed over sea green eyes, his sun kissed skin stretched over the lean muscles of a swimmer and his crooked smile practically turned Mateo into a puddle when it was turned on him. Marino Jackson-Chase, the one crush that Mateo just could not get over. He had accepted that he liked men a long time ago, helped by the fact that he had grown up with two moms but it did not change the fact that he was crushing on a guy four years older than him, or the fact that ever since Marino had figured out about Mateo's crush he had never let him live it down. They had gotten to know each other because Mateo often ate lunch in his grandfather's class and they would talk when he was free. He had graduated this year and Mateo had hoped that would be the last he saw of the man, but obviously someone wanted him to suffer. So distracted by Marino, he didn’t notice Percy coming forward until he spoke.  
“Welcome everyone to Pegasus riding, today we’ll just get used to being around the Pegasus, there needs to be trust between you before you try to ride them, Pegasus are proud and noble creatures that deserve your utmost respect.” Percy continued to talk, explaining the routine needed to properly care for and bond with a Pegasus, job made easier since Percy and Marino could apparently Talk to the winged horses and ask how they felt about the campers, which worked fine for everyone else, but when it was Mateo's turn they ran into a problem. None of the Pegasus would come near Mateo, when they were asked they would only say they were under orders to keep quiet, and Mateo was certain he knew who had given the order, the quiver heavy on his shoulder even though it seemed to weigh nothing. Percy simply shook his head and apologized to Mateo, saying they would have to wait to tell they found a Pegasus that would work with him, not that he had to worry cause if he could find Nico di Angelo a willing Pegasus then he could find Mateo one. It was later explained that because Nico was a child of hades he smelled of death and it tended to scare most animals. Friday wasn’t much better, more punching from Clarisse, more boring Greek verbs, a little fun on the rock climbing wall, until lava started to pour out of it. It wasn’t tell he took a closer look at his schedule that he saw something that could be fun today, Mateo caught The Hermes cabin head and asked  
“What team am I on for capture the flag?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you've been paying attention I've been telling a prophecy in the chapter summaries, try to guess which legacy will have titans fire ill decide what the winner will get later, good luck!


	6. A New Gift Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> and with the beacons light,  
> the three will travel for a day and night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So much goes on in this chapter, and next we get confirmation of Mateo's Heritage, I hope someone will figure it out before next Saturday. I hope you all enjoy this extra long chapter of Mateo's first game of capture the flag. and you'll get your answer about titan's fire in this chapter.

Mateo learned very Quickly that camp half blood took capture the flag like everything else to new levels of extreme, starting with the fact that he would need to bring a weapon and some armor, it was pure luck that they had found some bronze chainmail in his size well they explained the rules. All weapons, mortal and magical, where allowed and there is no killing or maiming or you lose dessert for a week. Mateo thought that it was a light punishment for killing or maiming another camper but he’d only been a demigod for less then a week so what did he know. They told Mateo that the goal was to get the opposing team's flag from where ever it was being defended and get it across the river that split through the center of the forest and that there were constant bets and wagers ranging from embarrassing dares to the losers doing the winners chores, and ever since he heard something about doing dishes in lava Mateo was determined to avoid as many chores as possible. The teams seemed to change every game depending on ever changing deals and alliances and this week the teams were Poseidon, Ares, Iris and Hermes against Apollo, Hephaestus, Athena, and nemesis. Apparently since the “big three” were not allowed to team up with more than two of the main thirteen cabins at a time, and there were so many minor gods with children and cabins they had started to split up into multiple teams that competed at different intervals throughout the day. Marino being on their team limited their allies since he was a descendant of Poseidon but the tradeoff was that as a descendent of Athena Marino was extremely good at strategy, something Mateo had seen every time he tried to play chess, or cards, or even mahjong. The four cabins got together to discuss their plans and strategy and introduce Mateo to the other cabins. Mateo was told that his job was to sit in the treetops near the flag and rain down arrows on anyone who came near the flag well everyone else went for the flag since he was the only good archers on their side, which was both flattering and sad since he was fourteen and most of his team mates where between sixteen and eighteen, and had been training since they where at least thirteen. Mateo watched as Marino and Clarissa’s son Sebastian went over their battle strategy, the Iris cabin planned to use the mist that Marino would whip up to spy on the other side through the rainbows which was pretty clever. The Hermes cabin was charged with booby trapping our side of the forest which meant we needed to memorize the trap placement to avoid them and draw their opponents into them.

With the plan in motion Mateo went to the armory to pick up some non lethal arrows, but as he was about to leave the armory he heard whispering, and with curiosity peaked he hid behind the armory door and listened in as the Hephaestus cabin planned to use drones to swarm and overpower his team during capture the flag, which seemed pretty extreme for a camp game, Mateo suspected there must have been something pretty big on the line for people to be doing all of this. Once the campers had left Mateo made a beeline for cabin 3 and found Marino meditating, droplets of water floating around him before breaking apart into clouds of mist, it was an impressive display of power and made Mateo wonder what kind of powers he might unlock. Mateo cleared his throat and jumped back as a spear of water crashed into the ground where he had been standing, Marino actually looked embarrassed, it was cute. As Mateo explained what he had overheard the Hephaestus cabin discussing he tried very hard not to be distracted by his sparkling eyes, he was doing pretty well until Marino gave him that annoyingly beautiful smile as he finished.  
“Thank you so much for your help Mateo, I'm really grateful for your help. I can’t really guess what this must be like for you, I grew up knowing about the gods so I can't even imagine how shocking this is for you. Do you want to talk about it?” Mateo sighed, well Marino liked to make jokes about his crush he knew that the older boy was really nice and caring. So Mateo explained about how much it hurt him that his Moms had lied to him, how he didn’t understand how they could have let him spend all these years thinking he was going insane when he saw Hydras stopping for donuts. They spent almost an hour talking, and well Marino couldn’t offer any really helpful advice, he listened, and that was enough. 

Once they had talked Marino got together with the others and discussed the counter for the drones, in the end it was decided to expand the rainbows in the mist to help confuse the drones programing, apparently it's called glitter camo. The discussions lasted for hours until finally it was time for the games and the teams headed into the forest. Chiron gave one last reminder of the rules before we split, I followed the other guard, a girl from Hermes names Cassandra Stoll, and helped set up the flag in a deep inset in the earth that was easily defensible with no hiding places anywhere near the flag, it would be a clean shot should someone make a run for it.

As Chiron sounded the horn to begin the game Mateo sat in a tree at the edge of the clearing, hidden behind leaves and branches he strung up his bow, the annoying buzzing from his wrist continuing for a few minutes well he watched Cassandra hide in the underbrush and they waited. Mateo watched, and waited, and thought about what could happen. He was good at archery but he had only had two days of defense training and a few years of self defense classes so he didn’t know what would happen when he was forced to fight, especially if they got too close for the bow to be effective and he hadn't even thought about grabbing a sword or dagger. 

Mateo was snapped out of his musing by rustling in the brush underneath his tree and he stilled, watching as a boy with impish features, caramel hair, and a large tool belt that was glowing in the same way that his new quiver was, walked into the clearing. Mateo pulled an arrow from his quiver, watching as a golden glow clung to the edges of the arrow tip before drawing the arrow back, prepared to release at a moment's notice. The young Latino boy, only a little older than him, walked down into the clearing with his head looking in every direction , probably prepared for any traps that could be released. Mateo watched as he took a deep breath and with a wave of his hand conjured a flaming construct that walked forward to pull the flag from its place at the center of the clearing only to be pushed back by an explosion of thorns as Cassandra ran forward, her blade gliding through the center of the flaming construct but found no purchase. Well she and the construct were distracted the boy ran forward but was knocked over as Mateo’s arrow struck him in his side, he got up and looked where the arrow came from, but Mateo was already moving, the light seaming to bend away to keep him in shadow till he was set in a new position with another arrow notched. 

The boy gave another look at the tree line before running again but even prepared for the arrow he still got struck in the leg, a Charlie horse bringing him to the ground and into a roll that brought him the rest of the way to the flag that he used to pull himself up. Mateo looked back to Cassandra as he let loose another arrow to see her still fighting the burning construct, her clothes covered in singes and the construct still going strong, holding her back but unable to advance on the flag. His eyes snapped back to the boy as he threw a ball of fire at his arrow, leaving a cloud of ash and a chunk of melted bronze as all that remained, the next five arrows met the same fate and the cocky smile on the boy's face annoyed Mateo to no end. With each arrow the boy drew closer to the forest edge and Mateo's temper flared to the point he wasn't even trying to stay hidden, his arrows flying like crazy, till only one normal arrow remained. Mateo froze as he realized he had wasted all his arrows until he was thawed by his rage, this had been his first chance to truly prove himself, not only to the other demigods in the camp but to his divine parent, whoever they might be. As his rage grew his hands began to move of their own accord, wisps of black energy began coursing from his surroundings down his arm to surround the tip of his final arrow in inky black power and before he even realized what was happening to the arrow it was sent flying, the black energy seeming to ward against the boy’s flames as it sailed through the air, but instead of striking the boy the arrow went over his head. The arrow sunk deep into the earth, piercing right through the center of the flag's shadow. Both the boy and Mateo froze, for this was the first time one of his arrows was off its mark. Mateo felt shame that his final arrow had been so useless, momentarily forgetting the black energy as the shame crept up on him. This went on for five whole seconds before the boy decided to keep running, or tried to run as the flag was yanked from his hand. Both of them froze once again as they looked at the flag frozen in the air and for the first time both of them noticed that coming from the arrow were tendrils of inky darkness that dug into the shadow, finally Mateo realized what had happened, somehow Mateo had made an arrow that had somehow pinned the flags shadow and by extension, the flag itself. It was another ten seconds before Cassandra gave a triumphant cry as the construct dispersed and she turned back to the boy, a look of confusion passing over her face when she saw the floating flag  
“Hey Valdez, when did you learn to make them invisible? That would have been useful on our last quest!” the boy, Valdez, looked back to Cassandra with a matching look of confusion on his face as he called back,  
“I'm not doing this! It’s that dame archer hiding in the trees. I can't even move the Flag! This has got to be against the rules somehow.” Mateo snapped out of his shock and got ready to hide again, but that plan went out the window when a drone went flying into his chest and knocked him into the clearing, the fall leaving his head reeling and his lungs unable to draw in air as the strangely sparking drone pinned him to the ground and he flailed his arms around trying to get the thing off of him. Suddenly there was a flash of light as his bracelet caught on the head of the drone and suddenly the head went flying and the drone fell to the side. Mateo took a few lungful's of breath, the shock only now starting to leave his body, and it was then that he noticed the dagger in his hand. The handle was made of the same golden wood with a well worn leather wrapped hilt leading to a detailed wing guard and a blade made of a beautiful black iron with golden roses going down the channel. As he looked closer at the blade he noticed that his bracelet was missing, and with a tentative theory he tapped the blade to his wrist and suddenly there was another flash of light as the blade disappeared and on Mateo’s left wrist was the golden bracelet once again. Suddenly, the Horn sounded once more as cheer rose from the forest as everyone in the clearing realized that the blue flag was still here, which meant Mateo’s team had won. The three in the clearing looked at each other and the flag that had fallen to the the ground at some point, and a smile spread across all their faces as they grabbed the flag and ran to join the celebrations, for the moment all thoughts of strange powers forgotten for the night as they joined the party that the winning teams had put together, and well problems can only be ignored for so long, Mateo had earned this one last night of revelry before Saturday. He had so much fun he forgot that Nico wasn’t the only one coming to camp in the morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for this chapter I'm gonna ask you to make a guess, who do you think Mateo is gonna end up with? I've got an idea of who he is gonna end up with but make an argument and I might change my mind, also mention your oc's in the comments and I might add them, just remember this is suppose to follow cannon so people who died won't have kids


	7. Mateo, The Gift of God

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> to fight the forces unknown,  
> and take back the ghost king's throne

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the big reveal! I hope you enjoy this but I might miss an update or too, turns out I caught covid and it makes me tired a lot, so sorry but don't worry, I'm not abandoning this fic

Mateo awoke on Saturday morning to the subtle scent of roses. It wasn’t till he began to hear harp music that his memory returned and he realized the danger that he and the camp could be in. Mateo jumped up out of bed only to realize that he was already ready for the day, because his pajamas had been replaced by an outfit he was sure he had never owned. A loose golden wide neck T-Shirt sat under an open black aviators Jacket with pure white wool lining, a golden bow and arrow patch on the shoulder and over his heart sat a little ghost wearing a crown. The shirt was tucked into a pair of loose black jeans held in place by a chain link belt and a pair of black boots completed the look. Mateo sighed as he realized the rose sent was coming from him and the harp was coming from his alarm, he pressed snooze and began his trek to the bathroom in the early morning light. Most of the Hermes cabin was already awake so he didn’t have to wait long, and after last night's game the Hermes cabin had first dibs on the bathrooms for the next week so the room was filling with steam from the showers in the adjacent connected building. Once in front of the mirror Mateo realized why there were so many looks thrown his way on the short walk, his hair was tamed into perfect flowing golden waves instead of the usual tired mess. Mateo had never considered himself bad looking, but with his hair done and not a blemish in sight he realized he looked pretty good, certainly better than he had ever looked before and he would bet his entire months allowance that Eros was responsible.

He brushed his teeth and gave his hair a quick shake only to glare as it settled back into place before deciding he had more pressing things to deal with. Mateo quickly walked to the Big House as the other campers called it and was happy to see that Chiron was sitting on the porch, his hindquarters hidden inside a glowing wheelchair as he played what looked like pinochle with the portly man in the strangely shifting tiger print though he quickly placed his hand down when he saw Mateo and his outfit.  
“Mateo, that is an interesting outfit you are wearing. Would I be correct in assuming you have been claimed?” Chiron asked, his calm tinged with excitement as he looked Mateo over.  
“Actually, I thought I should warn you about something Hermes told me on my first night here. Hermes said Eros was planning to visit today and he told me to keep it to myself to prevent a riot, but if he's giving magic makeovers I figured he was close and that I don’t feel right letting him come here without at least warning someone.” Mateo watched with a little shock and fascination as dread slowly crept across both of their faces, especially the man in the shifting Tiger print who got up and ran inside the house which quickly sealed itself with grape vines, Mateo was starting to realize that that might have been Dionysus. Once the god was gone Chiron quickly got up as well, running into the main part of the camp to start preparing damage control for when one of the most dangerous and fickle gods in the Greek pantheon arrived. Mateo watched as Hermes’ prediction came true as the camp began to go wild, some preparing, some hiding. In all the chaos Mateo was the only one who noticed as a tall boy with pale skin, black hair, and deep black eyes walked up to the porch from the arch marking the camps entrance. He wore a black shirt under an aviator's jacket similar in style to Mateo’s and black skinny jeans, the silver skull ring seemed to radiated a glow similar to the bracelet that Mateo now knew could turn into a knife and most likely his bow as well and sat next to a gold and silver band on his left hand.  
“Hi, are you Nico di Angelo?” the man jumped and turned to Mateo, shocked that he hadn't noticed the boy sitting on the porch in front of him, taking in the clothes, bracelet, hair, and dual colored eyes before answering him.  
“Yes, and who are you?” Before Mateo could answer there was another man running towards the big house, blond hair flashing in the morning light and the bright orange shirt somehow looking less garish on him when combined with his tan skin and bright blue eyes.  
“Nico, I’m so happy to see you but you should probably get out of here before Eros shows up.” At the mention of Eros Nico's face instantly contorted into one of annoyance but also resignation.  
“No Will, I’m not gonna run away from Eros, we’re at least on speaking terms and if he’s coming then I want to know why.” Mateo looked between the two men, and a strange thing happened. He watched as a strong golden thread seemed to form between the two hearts, and Mateo knew right then that the two of them were romantically connected. But he was broken from his musings by the sudden appearance of a hand on Mateo's shoulder and the tense looks on the two men's faces. Mateo sighed when he noticed everything had gone quiet and a quick look behind him showed that the camp had been frozen like the birds had been.  
“Hello Eros, it is good to see you again but could you please unfreeze time. I would feel safer knowing Chiron could help if something happens” the two men gave Mateo a look, obviously shocked that he would talk to the god of love like that, but in truth the last few days and the gift had made Mateo certain that he wasn’t planning on killing him and the smile on his face was reinforcing that thought.  
“Mateo, it's good to see you again my cadeau and that I caught you with Nico and Will, I feel this is a conversation that we should have in privacy, please sit all of you.” Eros waved his hand and the game of pinochle disappeared and was replaced with a breakfast of toast, fruit and eggs, simple and beautiful. Mateo sat down to Eros’ left and watched as after a brief silent exchange Will sat to Eros’ right and Nico sat across from the god of desire, a weary look on both their faces at Eros’ smile as he began to eat strawberries.  
“Now, I know all three of you have many questions, and I intend to answer some of them, we'll start with why we are all here. Mateo, this is the son of Hades Nico di Angelo and his husband Will Solace, a son of Apollo. Nico was born before the second world war and to protect him from the wrath of the other gods he was hidden in the Lotus casino, a place where time moves differently so what felt like a few months was actually a few decades. Because of when he was born he heavily suppressed his sexuality and tried to hide behind grief and anger to avoid his crush on Percy Jackson. I met Nico before he was placed in the Lotus Casino, his power and the fear in his heart caught my eye, so I decided to help him accept himself and find the strength to find the love he deserved, which he did. I was cruel as only love can be and when all was said and done I felt that Nico deserved a boon for withstanding me and finding love like so few do in this day and age, but it was not till he turned twenty that I realized what I could do for him. I sent Nico and Will on a quest to retrieve a golden egg from Eileithyia and took blood from them upon their return. I mixed their blood with a drop of my own blood within the golden egg and for nine months I guarded this egg, entrusting very few of the Olympians with my plans in the hopes of gaining support while still keeping the eggs' existence a secret. After nine months, the egg hatched, and out popped a beautiful baby boy, with tufts of golden hair, black and blue eyes with a bead of red, and the blessings of multiple gods both from his blood and the favor of those who had agreed to protect him. I looked at that beautiful baby boy, that gift from a god and named him such, do you understand, Mateo Solace di Angelo.” As Eros looked at Mateo, with his tri toned eyes and blond hair, he let the news sink into the three demigods knowing that nothing would be the same after this, especially when Mateo fainted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eileithyia is the goddess of childbirth so I figured she would be the most likely to make something that could create kids if there wasn't a natural way to do it.  
> look hear for Mateo's outfit https://www.deviantart.com/silver-draconis/art/Mateo-s-New-Look-861214070


	8. Why

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> but should the moon overtake the sun,  
> the final battle shall never be won.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone, sorry about missing the update last week. Thanksgiving week has been crazy, but we should be back on track now

Mateo wasn’t sure what was going on, the last thing he remembered was Eros telling him that he had hatched from an egg. From what he remembered about Greek Mythology it wasn’t the weirdest way he could have been born but still. Mateo had thought he had figured things out, but now he was even more confused, he had three dads and two of them didn’t even know he existed because his third dad, the god of desire, hid him away in an orphanage without telling them they had a kid. This brought Mateo back to where he was now, sitting in his foster mom’s kitchen as a woman with Rebecca's’ black hair and sharp nose poured two cups of tea before sitting across from him at the table, looking him up and down.  
“I'll admit Mateo di Angelo, I was not certain about allowing you near my children. Your parents have made many enemies and I did not want my family harmed by our association with you.” Mateo understood what she meant, there were many stories about all the ways Eros had ruined people's lives, and his demigod parents had probably killed hundreds of monsters over the years.  
“ It is nice to meet you Hecate, Since Rebecca raised me I’m guessing that something changed your mind. Can I ask what?” Mateo was curious, Hecate did not seem like she was easily scared or threatened by anyone, even Eros. She even had followers among modern day mortals so she probably had a large amount of power behind her. Hecate sighed,  
“Your father has a sister, she is one of the most skilled practitioners in the world. I respect her and wish to make her happy, and what makes her happy is her family's happiness. The least I could do for her after all she has done for me is protect her nephew, so I added an extra layer of enchantments over the orphanage. A glamor to push both monsters and gods away. As long as you were within the orphanage you were safe, of course you drew attention whenever you went out but it was all I could do back then, but now that you know of the gods I can offer you my help. The Olympians do not always accept the darker gods, so we allied ourselves with your grandfather Hades and by extension his children or grandchildren in your case. I wish to offer you the same thing I offered your aunt, the power to wield magic as my children can.” Mateo nearly choked on his tea at that, and the goddess of magic had the gall to look amused as he smacked himself in the chest to clear his airways.  
“Magic? Like turning men into pigs and things like that?” at that Hecate got a far away look on her face, most likely remembering the one most famous for that trick.   
“ I am the goddess of the mist, it is a veil that separated the world of gods from the world of mortals. By manipulating the Mist you can change how something is perceived and in time change what something is at its core, like that bracelet you wear. It is not just a bow that looks like a bracelet, it is a bow and a bracelet and a dagger all at the same time, its essence dissolving into mist and reforming as the form you need well still retaining certain elements like the imperial gold and stygian Iron. Circe’s spell would take the body and reshape it well keeping the core of the person, it is difficult to completely change something, the closer to what it was the easier the change will be and the longer the change will hold.  
“Oh! So because Circe saw men as pigs the spell held better because it was only changing the outside to what she believed was on the inside.” Hecate gave Mateo a proud smile, happy that he was understanding the core concept of magic so quickly,  
“Yes, when it comes to the mist perception is everything, whether it be yours or someone else's. Draw a door on the wall and you have a portal, dig a hole in the middle of the road and no one will see it because they only expect a normal road. This is the gift I give to you with the hope it will aid you in the days to come, your family is most beloved by the lesser gods and you will find aid among them. Now, I believe it is time you awaken.”

Mateo woke up to the scent of antiseptics and dark chocolate, the sunlight hitting his eyes saying that it was mid day. He could hear whispering coming from his bedside, one was obviously Chiron but the other voice was someone Mateo hadn't met yet, his thick Texan drawl lyrical and strong like his every word was a part of a song.  
"He'll be fine once he wakes up, he just got a nasty shock but I recon he'll recover, his dads are some of the toughest demigods I know" the voice seemed to move around the room quickly, as if checking multiple beds around the room, so he was most likely a doctor and child of Apollo. Mateo decided that he should probably open his eyes, he had a lot of things to discuss with his fathers. As he opened his eyes he saw that a privacy screen surrounded his bed and he could see the outline of Chiron sitting beside his bed. Suddenly the screen was moved to the wall as a man with glowing sun tanned skin, golden hair, chiseled jaw, and what looked like a Sunstone bolo tie under his doctor's coat gave Mateo a blazing white smile and handed him a glass of golden liquid that somehow smelled like Mary's dark chocolate cake that she made every time a kid was adopted or left the orphanage for collage.  
"Well hello Mateo, my name is Doctor Solace and I'll be giving you a basic check up now that you're awake, drink that there Nectar well I check out your reflexes after that nasty tumble you took." Mateo looked at the beautiful man with the same last name as his father and the glowing skin that he had seen on multiple people in the last week and he had a pretty good idea who this man was.  
"It's nice to meet you Grandfather, can you tell me what happened after I fainted, and where my dad's are? If Apollo was surprised at being recognized he didn't show it, just pushed the glass into Mateo's hands as he flashed a light in his eyes. Shockingly, the Nectar actually did taste like Mary's dark chocolate cake and Apollo explained that Nico and Will were currently chewing out Eros for creating a child and then not telling them about it, and since they needed a doctor on duty and Apollo refused to be anywhere near Eros do to their past, he decided to wait with Chiron for Mateo to wake up.  
"Now, everything seems to be in order, so I'll be taking my leave. You should go talk to your dads, I'm certain they have a lot of questions, but take this, think of it as a late birthday present. " Apollo tossed Mateo a bus token made of pure gold stamped with a sunrise on one side and a chibi Apollo giving a thumbs up on the other.  
“Toss that there token into the sunrise and I'll be there fast as gossip in a small town” He gave Mateo a wink at that, though Mateo had no idea what he meant, he hoped that the accent wasn't normal or he would never understand a word the god said. As Mateo examined the token there was a bright flash of light and when he looked back, Apollo was gone

Chiron had left at some point during the examination so Mateo decided that he would go find his dads, a task that was made easier by the fact that bones seemed to litter the ground heading towards the arena. Once Mateo arrived it was to an unusual sight, Nico was sitting on the sidelines drinking from a flask as Will, the kind sweet mannered doctor that seemed to always be smiling yelled at Eros, his own southern drawl coming out thicker in his anger.  
“And the fact that you had the gall to keep this from us, he is our son and you had no right to keep him from us! Do you know what it’s like to learn you had a son, to learn that you missed out on his first steps, his first words, his first EVERYTHING! I don't care if you are a god, if you don’t give me one good reason I will send you to the depths of Tartarus where I will hunt you down and drown you in the river Phlegethon so I can kill you again!” Mateo wasn’t sure who he was more worried for, Will or Eros but either way he would probably be better off staying out of the argument until it came to blows, so he decided to go sit next to Nico.  
“So, is that alcohol? Someone mentioned that nothing stronger than diet soda is allowed in camp because of Dionysus” Wordlessly Nico passed the flask to Mateo who gave him a side eye but took a swig nonetheless. It tasted sweet, like flower nectar, and left a warm feeling in his stomach. He passed the flask back.  
“It's called unicorn draught, it's the only thing we've found that can help me when I start to fade.” Seeing Mateos questioning look he explained further.  
“When I was younger, I had to use my powers to travel halfway around the world, It took everything I had and left me little more than a shadow. To this day, if I use to much power I risk fading away into darkness and I was already at my limit this week before I tried to murder a god. Luckily Will tagged in and he's honestly holding his own far better than I was against him.” Mateo nodded, wondering what else he could say. He had spent years thinking of insults and rebuttals and questions, but now that he knew that two of his parents didn’t know he existed, most of that anger was fading, he still had questions but there was only one person who could answer. Mateo got up, ignoring the questioning look on Nico’s face as he walked forward and placed a hand on Wills arm as he looked into Eros’ eyes, crimson red like the bead in his own eyes and asked a single question, the most important question,  
“Why?” Mateo had spent years asking himself that question, why was he left on the doorsteps of an orphanage, he loved his foster moms and foster siblings, but there was always that little voice asking what was wrong with him. He wondered if his parents couldn't afford to keep him, or if they had problems that made them unfit to care for children but in the back of his mind he always believed it was because of him, that something was so wrong with him that his parents couldn’t even keep him for a year of his life. So that is the question he asked, why could he not know about his parents, why did he have to spend the first fourteen years of his life thinking there was something wrong with him when it was obvious that his parents would have loved and protected him.  
“The day my daughter was born was one of the happiest days of my life. I loved her and her mother with all my heart and that was the risk. Over the next century after my marriage my family was attacked multiple times by both gods and mortals, but my wife had learned to defend herself during her trials and I trained my daughter to use her powers to keep herself safe, and that is the difference. You and your fathers are mortal, you have great power and your fathers are feared by many but they are also hated. As I held you I realized just how vulnerable you are, bitter gods, crazed dead, even the simple raven would kill you if it knew who you were, and fighting for your life is no life at all for a child and the moment you knew who you were, the rest of the world would too. So I made a choice that pained me more than any other before it, I hid you from everyone, from your family, from the divine and even from yourself. I understand that you feel betrayed, I will not ask for forgiveness or understanding, all I ask is that you give your fathers a chance to be your fathers. I love you my cadeau and hope to see the amazing things you will do and I hope you will use your gift responsibly.” with that Eros began to glow, the strange shifting light that surrounded him and all the other gods he had met began to fade and reveal the painful light underneath. Mateo quickly turned away, realizing that looking at whatever was underneath was not something he wanted to see. As the light faded Mateo turned back around to see that Eros was gone and Mateo was alone with his fathers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the family is all together, comment who you want to meet Mateo next. Leo and Calypso, Frank and Hazel, or some other couple


	9. Getting to Know the Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mateo and his parents talk, and an old face helps Mateo with a problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry its taken so long to update this. I've been swamped with school and family drama but I'm back now, the updates might still be sporatic but i don't plan on abandoning this story. also the prophecy in the summaries was getting annoying and I've changed my mind about where I want to take this, so you can ignore it

Mateo sat on the couch in the Big House, a mounted jaguar head snoring on the wall as he sipped his tea, honey and ginseng helping to calm him down. His fathers had just spent the last few hours telling him their stories from Will’s simple upbringing in Texas to Nico's early life in Italy and his years on the run from camp Half-Blood. They had told him about the giant war, how they met and even why things were tense between Nico and Eros. He sat there absorbing the new information until one aspect of the story struck him,   
“So, I guess I'm not the first di Angelo to have a crush on a Jackson, is that like a thing for our family?” This was obviously not what they had expected as suddenly Nico was spitting out his tea onto the table and Will looked away quickly, trying to hold in his laughter as Nico cleaned up the mess well pointedly ignoring Mateo’s question, rude.  
“Can I ask you guy’s about your powers, some weird stuff happened during capture the flag and with all the chaos going on I haven’t had the chance to figure out how mine work, maybe it's like yours.” The two men looked at each other and seemed to decide that this topic was much safer and asked Mateo to elaborate on what happened during the game.  
“Well it started when this boy named Valdez tried to get the flag, I’d been hiding in the trees shooting at him but he was burning all my arrows out of the air. I started getting mad and started shooting faster and faster until suddenly I was on my last arrow and he had this smug look on his face like he had already won, as I drew back on that last arrow it got coated in this black energy that protected it from the fire but it missed him completely. Instead it hit the flag’s shadow, literally. Tendrils of black energy were coming out of the arrow and the flag was stuck hovering in the air completely unmovable.” Mateo could already tell from the looks on their faces that well neither of them had that power; they both had some ideas. Will had a thoughtful look on his face as he closed his eyes. As he focused his hair began to lighten into a brighter shade of gold, and then it was just glowing with golden light, and as he lifted his hands the light began to flow down his arms and gather in them. It was just like the energy he had used Friday except gold instead of black. Will explained that the light was a concentrated form of sunlight and healing energy, it takes too long to gather for use in combat but has helped during many surgeries. Then Nico explained that his sister had died before she could learn how to use her powers, but Hades had told him that when they were younger she had seemed to be much more in tune with the shadows then to the dead so it could be that Mateo had inherited a form of her powers. Will said that to collect the light he focused on the warmth of the sun to get himself in the proper head space, so maybe he could focus on the coldness of the shadows. Mateo decided to try it later, for now he was content to listen to his fathers talk about their powers like Will’s sonic whistle and Nico’s ability to command the dead. He was really interested in hearing about the ritual meant to raise the souls of the dead, but suddenly the dinner horn sounded and the new family of three got up and headed down to the dining pavilion.

As the trio of demigods walked from the big house own to dinner Mateo began to notice that the usual yelling and noise seemed to have quieted into a dull buzz that filled the camp, only to fade into complete silence as they arrived in the dining pavilion as the entire camp stared at them, but one look from Nico had everyone turning back to their food, Mateo really wanted to learn that trick. The family of three got their plates of steak with green beans but Mateo was quick to pour his entire plate into the fire, the knots in his stomach not making food seem very appealing. It wasn't until he was guided to a seat at the Apollo table that the events of the day finally began to creep up on him, he was the child of two male demigods and the god of love, he hatched from an egg! How was this his life now? Mateo had thought he was holding up well but this seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back as he didn’t even know he was hyperventilating until he was laying against someone's chest, their quiet mumblings familiar and soothing as the panic attack began to fade. It was still a few minutes before he was willing to open his eyes, embarrassment over losing it in front of everyone filling the places left behind by the panic but once he did he saw familial brown eyes and fluffy brown hair with purple highlights framing the pale face and sharp nose of the closest thing Mateo had to an older brother,  
“Hey Ben, how has college been going?” Ben smiled down at him, realizing that he wasn’t ready to say what was bothering him so he took up the thread of conversation easily.   
“It's been going good, New Rome has an amazing theater program. As far as the rest of schooling goes, the teachers are trained to help us control our ADHD and they mostly write in ancient Latin and Greek to help with our dyslexia. It makes following the lectures much easier, you'll enjoy it I'm sure.” As the two foster brothers continued to talk about nothing in particular, the rest of the campers began to head down to the bonfire, realizing that the two boys weren't going anywhere.

It was about an hour later that Mateo was feeling calm enough to stand up as Ben tried to explain how the concepts and belief of people cause divinity to exist alongside science. As he looked around at the mostly empty pavilion he saw his fathers quietly talking, giving him space but being there just in case and he was grateful for that,  
“Dad’s, this is my Foster brother Ben Black. He usually helped me when I got like this back at the home, sorry about all of that.” Will just gave him a gentle smile as he checked Mateo over, making sure he was okay without crowding him, Mateo got the feeling that he had done this before, often.   
“We’ve met, I’ve had to confiscate multiple flasks of extra strong Kool-Aid from him over the years.” Mateo knew exactly what he meant, Mary had placed a ban on Kool-Aid after she caught him chugging a bottle the size of his head mixed with what seemed like half his body weight in sugar.  
"Whelp, if you're doing better I've got a meeting to get to, drop by the Dionysus cabin some time ok, I've missed my little bro these last few months." Ben said, his smile helping to calm Mateo the rest of the way as the new family of three decided to skip the bonfire tonight and head to bed. Mateo quickly packed up all his stuff, noticing a few more shirts in different shades of gold and a dozen more black jeans as he moved to his new cabin. They had decided earlier that cabin thirteen would be the best for the new family to get to know each other, but he could sleep in the Apollo cabin too if he wanted to get away from his parents for a bit. The family arrived at the black cabin just as the sun finished going down and the torches on either side of the door lit with green flames. Inside the cabin was rich dark oak panels with golden accents. Four sets of bunk beds made out of wood stained black that smelled like pomegranates were lined up against the walls with thick duvets in jewel tones and metallic embroidery. It looked like something out of a millionaire designer catalog, and that was only the beds, in the back of the cabin there was what looked like a commons room with couches that matched the beds and a plush black carpet, and at the end of the commons was a beautifully designed fireplace, images of the underworld covered it and within it was a bowl full of fire and on top of the mantle was four other bowls, each one full of strangely colored water, deep blue, poison green, milky white, and pure black. Mateo decided to stay far away from those bowls.

As Mateo put all his stuff in a ruby red bunk bed with golden flowers along the edge he wondered what would happen next. Every time he thought things were calming down something new would pop up to shatter his current world view, and there was nothing he could do about it. All he could do was roll with the punches and hope that the milky white bowl didn't become too tempting. He closed his eyes and drifted into sleep, not knowing that soon, his fate would be irreversibly tied to two other campers, and that the fate of the whole camp would rest on their shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've added some new drawings to my deviant art of Mateo's bracelet, I've named it Dark Rose, or Rosa Tenebris in Latin  
> deviantart.com/silver-draconis/art/Dark-Rose-rosa-tenebris-Bow-Form-868520766  
> and deviantart.com/silver-draconis/art/Dark-Rose-rosa-tenebris-868411377


	10. How Far We've Come

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With everything he's learned Mateo has started to practice his abilities. A new face arrives at the camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is more an update on where Mateo's powers are currently. Hope you all enjoy my descriptions of what he can do and what he's struggling with. any suggestions for funny and embarrassing things for future chapters would be greatly appreciated.

It had been a week since Mateo had met his parents and things were finally starting to calm down. The camp had spent a few days whispering about the new family but were quickly distracted when a new daughter of Hephaestus arrived Tuesday morning, apparently a side effect of demigod ADHD was that they didn't seem able to focus on anything for too long. Mateo only got to spend one more day with his parents before he had to get back into the flow of camp life though they did talk every night. Nico and Will seemed to really want to understand Mateo and his interests but also didn’t want to crowd him every day, so he mostly had the day to himself with campfires and lights-out dedicated to learning about his new extended family. He would go to classes in the morning and train in the arena during the afternoon, not bothering with the archery range most days. But come night he would sit down to listen to stories about quests like when Nico, Percy, and their cousin Thalia defeated the Titan Iapetus well retrieving the Sword of Hades well other campers interjected with their own experiences and trophies from quests.

It was Saturday morning once again. Capture the flag the night before had unexpectedly ended when the Hermes cabin dropped some vials of Greek fire and sent the Ares cabin scattering and by the time they had gotten the burning under control it was time for dinner so Mateo hadn’t gotten to see if his training was working. It turned out that divine powers were harder to control than he thought. It took a lot of meditation but he had finally gotten the hang of manipulating shadows, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get them to interact with the rest of the world, he could make shadow puppets and that's about it. Manipulating the Mist was also turning out to be a bust. When he focused he could see it, a gossamer curtain that surrounded the whole camp, from what he had heard it was the barrier that kept mortals away and monsters at bay. He could also see the shifting light that told him something could change shape like the pen He sometimes saw Percy brandishing like a sword during campfires or the silver skull ring that Nico always wore. The most interesting examples of the mist though where the spells that the Hecate cabin cast, he could see how each word pulled and shifted the mist, gathering it like a fisherman's net until the spell was released and well he had not succeeded at casting a spell he could see points in theirs where the net was weak, where the spells could be unraveled.

Mateo decided that he would spend the day practicing with his bracelet, since he still had a tendency to go for his knife and come up with his bow or try to draw his bow and end up throwing his knife, not the most helpful thing in close quarters combat or trying to take out a far off target. The bracelet seemed to respond to his instincts more than anything, if he didn't want to be fighting up close and he pulled on the bracelet, nine out of ten times it would be a bow, well if he was annoyed that his target was dodging his arrows and he wanted them closer the knife would come out. He had to learn to focus under fire and keep a clear image in his head of what he wanted. This was very hard to do with Clarissa swinging a spear that sparks with lightning at him but he had to learn somehow. 

By the time the sun was starting its descent, Mateo’s clothes smelled like ozone and his hair was sticking up in all sorts of directions but he had gotten it down to five out of ten, so he was counting it as a win. Mateo went down to the pavilion, ignoring the stares as his hair began to restyle itself into its usual flowing style, that was another power he had found, no matter what he did his outfit and hair returned to normal, or something else. On Tuesday he had gotten oil spilled on him well helping out in the forge but it had slid right off his clothes well stubbornly clinging to his cheek as well as slicking back his hair making him look like a greaser for the rest of the day, all he'd have needed was a sucker or cigarette to complete the look. The next day he had been walking by the dock when some of the nymphs had pulled up a wave to soak him and instead of looking like a drenched rat his clothes had gone semi transparent and his hair had slicked back once again like he had just gotten out of the pool in a rom-com. It was one of the strangest aspects of his abilities and he had not yet found a way to turn it off.

After a quick lunch Mateo ran down to the Hecate cabin to watch them cast, they had refused to directly help him learn but he was determined to at least figure out one spell before summer ended, but as the cabin came in to view he saw someone new. She was about the same age as his dads, with dark brown hair that cascades in beautiful ringlets down her back, her sword was very long and made of a brilliant gold instead of the bronze that most of the campers used, he was almost sure it was called a spatha and was used by cavalry soldiers. The rich purple of her shirt complemented her mocha skin and the shifting cloud of Mist that followed her said that she was a very powerful witch.

As Mateo walked up closer to the mysterious witch his curiosity got the better of him and he used one of the few powers he had control over. It had begun when he notice something strange surrounding a buff man from the Iris cabin named Butch, he had a strange rainbow colored miasma hanging around him and when Mateo looked closely it came into sharp view, a shroud of rainbow light. When he looked around he found all of the Children of Iris had the same cloud of light around them and their own children had it too. However, when he had looked at Marino he had seen sea spray beading on scribbled words, and around the Valdez boy he saw twisting flames and the same golden light that he had seen inside Eros. Around this girl he saw something completely new, her aura made it look like she was inside a diamond, light dancing off razor sharp points and refracting through each crystalline facet, breaking into rays of golden light only to be lost in the mist that floated around the crystalline structure like lost souls. It was like she was made of diamonds and mist and the dead.

So distracted by the beautiful and unique aura, Mateo didn’t even notice that the woman was examining him too. He was only broken from his stupor when the new witch began to walk towards him, each step sure and strong, as if daring something to try and get in her way. With each step Mateo wanted to run, but her golden eyes held him in place as the golden light of her aura reached out and danced across him, tugging on his bracelet for a brief second before returning to the woman as she stopped before him,  
“Hello, You must be Mateo. Lady Hecate asked me to come see how you are coming along in your studies, plus I've been dying to get to meet my nephew.” the stranger said, a smile full of pearl white teeth greeting him as she introduced herself,  
“My name is Hazel Levesque and I'm your aunt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAZEL!!!! I Love her so much, and don't worry, Frank is around and we'll see him squirm around Nico even after all these years.

**Author's Note:**

> this is mt first ever attempt at a fanfic, if you enjoyed feel free to comment and leave kudos


End file.
